Locomotor recovery after SCI: intimate dependence between axonal regeneration and re-connection

H.R QUINTÁ

NEURAL REGENERATION RESEARCH

SHENYANG EDITORIAL DEPT NEURAL REGENERATION RES

Año: 2022

1673-5374

Traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCI) ischaracterized by damage in the integrityof the spinal cord, which results in eithertemporary or permanent alterations inthe locomotor, sensory and/or autonomicfunctions (Yezierski, 2009). The traumaticevent leads to impairments in voluntarycontrol of movement below the injuryby affecting the connection betweenthe brain and the neurons localized inthe spinal cord. Therefore, the recoveryof locomotor activity is considered oneof the main goals in the search of newtherapies by the scientists around theworld. For many years, axon regenerationhas been considered the Holy Grail in SCIresearch, however, now we know thatthe regeneration of sectioned axons isnecessary but not enough to promotelocomotor recovery (Raineteau and Schwab, 2001). The disruption of longmotor and sensory axonal tracts as aconsequence of the lesion preventstheir specific interactions with theircellular targets. For this reason the goalof ongoing investigations is to promotethe re-growth of axonal tracts acrossthe lesion site and their re-connectionwith propiospinal neurons at differentsegments of the spinal cord (Figure 1A). Inparticular, regeneration and re-connectionof cortico spinal tract (CST) axons is of vitalsignificance to regain voluntary locomotoractivity after a complete spinal cord injury(Oudega and Perez, 2012). This is becausethe axons that integrate the CST transmitvoluntary motor information to theforelimbs and hindlimbs, and the damageof this structure in humans affects directlythe locomotion (Nathan, 1994).